Guide to the Best Seasonal Cocktails and Beverages in Los Angeles
After a hectic day filled with decking the halls and crowded shopping malls, one of the best ways to unwind is with a yummy seasonal cocktail highlighting the flavors of the holidays. Don’t let the stress get to you, check out our list of the best places to grab a seasonal cocktail that will surely give you visions of dancing sugar plums!
HOTEL CASA DEL MAR
1910 Ocean Way, Santa Monica, CA 90405
This season, guests are invited to skip the snow and enjoy the beach at the luxury oceanfront at Santa Monica’s Hotel Casa Del Mar while sipping festive seasonal cocktails. Whether a Scrooge or Santa’s helper, guests will be feeling merry after enjoying these boozy delights! We recommend the Winter by the Sea, the appropriately named drink is the perfect combo of sweet and ginger spice!
THE MILKY WAY
9108 W. Pico Blvd.,Los Angeles . CA . 90035
The Spielberg family’s neighborhood restaurant at Pico-Robertson, The Milky Way, brings a newly-reimagined space and menu while still paying homage to the legacy and unique tastes of beloved owner Leah Spielberg Adler. The kosher restaurant previously only served beer and wine, but now serves up a handful of wine-based cocktails and mocktails, perfect for all guests’ drinking preferences. Try the Autumn Apple & Pomegranate Mule, featuring pomegranate juice, apple cider and lime topped with ginger beer.
YARDBIRD SOUTHERN TABLE & BAR
8500 Beverly Blvd #112, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Yardbird proudly refers to itself as “A house of worship to farm-fresh ingredients, classic Southern cooking, culture and hospitality.” And that reigns true even with their signature seasonal cocktail The Turkey Leg. Crafted with house-made spiced cranberry purée, Wild Turkey 81 and fresh lemon, balanced with orange bitters and sparkling wine.
OSTERIA CAL MARE
8500 Beverly Blvd suite 115 ground floor, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Osteria Cal Mare is craveable Italian cuisine mastered by Chef Michael Mina and Chef Adam Sobel. Located on the ground floor of the remodeled and reimagined Beverly Center, the restaurant sits at the epicenter of flavor where pizza is love and pasta is life. Other than mouth watering Italian cuisine, the bar offers a seasonal dark rum & port cider with rosemary and thyme that is just to die for. Also, make sure to stop by for their Sunday Brunch for even more seasonal cocktail selections.
FRESH LA
8768 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Fresh on Sunset is the first U.S.-based location from restaurateur and vegan pioneer Ruth Tal with co-owner of Terroni Los Angeles and former “Top Chef Canada” judge, Shereen Arazm. Fresh L.A. marks the sixth location of Tal’s boutique restaurant empire known for crave-able, plant-powered cuisine, botanical cocktails, vegan wines and chic, modern interiors. This season they’re offering the Northern Lights Old Fashioned and you don’t have to feel guilty about drinking this cocktail…I mean, it’s vegan, right?
HERE & NOW COCKTAIL BAR
300 S Santa Fe Ave Suite N, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Here & Now is a bar and lounge in downtown LA that hosts an awesome Christmas pop-up bar, Blitzen’s, which is open 12/3 until 12/31! The seasonal menu features quite a few tasty beverages, our favorite is the Matzoh Ball Soup Coups, a playful take on a Hanukkah favorite.
DELPHINE
6250 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028
Delphine Eatery & Bar offers Contemporary American cuisine that is California inspired with a focus on fresh organic ingredients. They’re celebrating National Espresso Day on November 23 by debuting their seasonal cocktail, the Espresso Martini. Delphine will be offering these tasty martinis made with Grey Goose Vodka, espresso, Frangelico, agave and sweet chai cream for a limited time only, so try it while you can!
WATER GRILL DTLA
544 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Water Grill has been Southern California’s favorite seafood destination since 1989. They’re best known for fresh seafood platters and amazing lobster rolls but also have a cocktail menu full of some of the best wines, beers and spirits. Their seasonal cocktail, the Campfire Sling is a real treat, crafted with straight rye whiskey, maple syrup & chocolate bitters, served over block ice with scorched orange oil.
DISTRICT
Plaza Level in The Bloc, 700 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017
At DISTRICT their food menu focuses on farm to table products that are created on a small scale by farmer-artisans who are strangers to compromise, and have, through passion and invention, further dimensionalized the culinary arts. The bar is equally inspired, and produces handcrafted cocktails that dazzle the senses and intensify connection. The holiday cocktail on the menu right now is the Nicotine, made with toasted cacao nib-infused Amaro Nonino, mezcal, rum Slivovitz, dry curacao, espresso reduction, black walnut bitters and smoke. This drink is truly an experience all on its own!
MINIBAR HOLLYWOOD
6141 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Minibar Hollywood is featuring a seasonal cocktail that is truly inventive, creative and irresistible! The Apple Press is described as a “cannibal cocktail,” because it uses one ingredient in multiple ways! The drink is made with fresh apple juice, apple cider vinegar, Laird’s Apple Brandy, apple slice garnish, Four Roses Bourbon and Fee Walnut Bitters. As the old saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Still applies in this care, right?
MASTRO’S RESTAURANT
246 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Mastro’s Restaurants is introducing their December featured cocktail, the deliciously decadent winter cocktail, The Holiday Cheer. This holiday cocktail is a refined, naughty yet delightful dessert in a martini glass. Made with Tito’s Vodka, Kerrygold Irish Cream, Kahlua and Liquor 43, and garnished with a cinnamon and sugar graham cracker rim. This drink is basically an adult gingerbread cookie in a glass and we’re obsessed!
LITTLE DOM’S
2128 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Located on one of L.A.’s most pedestrian friendly streets, in the heart of the sought-after Los Feliz neighborhood, Little Dom’s combines the laid back atmosphere of Los Angeles with the dynamic feel of a New York block. This Holiday season their featured cocktail is the Penicillin. It is flu season after all! This cocktail is made with Famous Grouse Blended Scotch, house-made ginger syrup, lemon, clover honey and Atomized Laphroaig 10. It’s just the perfect pick me up after a long day braving the cold and rainy days of winter.
